Solution
After-hours answering service for the calls you get after closing.
Forward your line to Leap when you close. It answers in your business name, answers from the facts you approved, takes the caller's request, and sends your team a summary for the morning.
An after-hours answering service picks up business calls once the office is closed. With Leap, the hours are set by how you forward your line: your carrier's or phone system's schedule, a dial code at closing, or ring-first forwarding. Leap answers what reaches it and texts or emails you a summary.
Your carrier's clock. Leap answers whatever calls you forward to it. After-hours timing comes from your carrier's or phone system's forwarding schedule, or from dialing a code when you close.
Closed greeting. You can turn on an after-hours greeting that tells callers the office is closed and offers to take a message, based on the office hours you give Leap.
Request, not a guess. A caller who wants an appointment at night leaves a request with name, reason and preferred time, and your team confirms it the next day.
Text + email. Each answered call reaches the people you choose by text, email or both, with a summary and a callback number.
Urgent flag. For an urgent call, Leap gives the emergency contact you approved, takes the details and marks the message urgent for your team.
What is an after-hours answering service?
An after-hours answering service answers your business calls when your office is closed, so an evening caller reaches someone who can help instead of a voicemail box.
Leap does this with an AI receptionist that answers in your business name and speaks from the knowledge base built from your website, your Google listing and anything you add. It takes messages and appointment requests and tells your team what came in overnight.
Who decides when after-hours answering starts?
Your phone setup does. Leap has two forwarding modes. Forward every call sends all calls to Leap and your phone does not ring. Ring me first lets your phone ring, and the call moves to Leap only when you are busy, do not pick up, or are unreachable.
Leap does not switch forwarding on and off by the clock. To cover only evenings, use your phone system's time-based forwarding (RingCentral, Nextiva, Grasshopper and Spectrum or Comcast business lines have one), dial your carrier's forwarding code when you close and its off code when you open, or use ring-first so calls nobody answers after closing reach Leap.
Mobile line, manual switch
On Verizon, *72 plus your Leap number forwards every call and *73 turns it off. AT&T uses *21* and T-Mobile **21* codes. Leap shows the right code for your carrier.
Office phone system
Business phone systems usually let you set an after-hours rule that forwards to an outside number. Point that rule at your Leap number.
Ring-first as a safety net
With ring-first forwarding, your phone rings day and night, and calls you miss go to Leap. After closing, that covers most calls without any switching.
Virtual numbers
Google Voice, OpenPhone, Grasshopper and RingCentral forward from inside their own app, where many also offer business-hours rules.
What does Leap do with a 9pm call?
It greets the caller with your business name, answers questions it has approved facts for, and takes a message or appointment request. If it does not know something, it says so, takes the caller's name and number, and saves the question so you can answer it once for next time.
Live transfer, if you turn it on, works only while the office is open. After hours, Leap takes a message instead, and an urgent one is marked urgent for whoever you route it to.
How it works
- 01
Build the receptionist.
Give Leap your website or Google listing. It drafts caller-ready answers and you check each one.
- 02
Choose how calls reach it after closing.
Use your phone system's after-hours rule, your carrier's forwarding code, or ring-first forwarding.
- 03
Read the night's calls in the morning.
Each answered call has a recording, transcript and summary in your inbox, and the people you chose get a text or email.
Frequently asked questions
Can I set Leap to answer only after 5pm?
Not inside Leap. Leap answers the calls that are forwarded to it. Set the timing with your phone system's after-hours forwarding rule, or dial your carrier's forwarding code at closing and the off code when you open. Ring-first forwarding is the simplest alternative: your phone rings first and only missed calls go to Leap.
What does an after-hours caller hear?
By default: "Good evening. This is Sophie from" your business, then "How can I help?" You can rename the receptionist, and you can turn on an after-hours greeting that says the office is closed and offers to take a message.
Can Leap book appointments at night?
By default it takes an appointment request with the caller's name, reason and preferred time, and tells them your team will confirm. If you connect Google Calendar, it can check open times and book directly. It cannot move or cancel existing appointments; those requests go to your team.
What happens with an emergency after hours?
If someone describes a life-threatening situation, Leap tells them to call emergency services now. For urgent calls that are not life-threatening, it gives the emergency contact you approved, takes the details and marks the message urgent.
Can an after-hours call be transferred to my cell?
Live transfer is off by default, and when you turn it on it transfers only while the office is open. After hours, Leap takes a message and sends it to the people you chose.
How do I find out about calls that came in overnight?
Each recipient picks text, email or both. You can also get one digest email for several calls, and every answered call sits in the inbox with its recording and transcript.
Does a human answering service cost more?
Pricing varies by provider and plan, so compare quotes directly. Leap is $149 a month, first 100 calls included, then $0.99 a call, with no setup fee and no contract.
Which businesses get the most after-hours calls?
Trades with emergencies (plumbing, HVAC, locksmiths, towing), practices whose patients call after work, and any business whose customers research in the evening. Calls about a problem that just happened tend to come in when it happens.
Keep exploring
Never miss another call.
Paste your website. Leap builds your receptionist from your hours, services, and policies while you watch. Live in five minutes for $149/month.